Beginning

11 “Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God and shall keep that which He Commands to be kept—His Ordinances and His Laws and His Commandments, always—

² “but not your children, who have neither known nor seen the chastisements of the LORD your God, His greatness, His mighty Hand, and His outstretched Arm,

³ “and His signs, and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land.

⁴ “Nor do they do know what He did to the army of the Egyptians, to their horses, and to their chariots, when He caused the waters of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you. And the LORD destroyed them to this day.

⁵ “Nor do they do know what He did for you in the wilderness, until you came to this place,

⁶ “and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the Earth opened her mouth and swallowed them with their households and their tents and all their substance that they had, in the midst of all Israel.

⁷ “For your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which He did:

⁸ ‘Therefore, you shall keep all the Commandments which I command you this day, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land where you go to possess it,

⁹ ‘and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to give to them and to their seed, a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁰ ‘For the land where you go to possess is not as the land of Egypt from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered with your feet, as a garden of herbs.

¹¹ ‘But the land where you go to possess, a land of mountains and valleys, drinks water from the rain of Heaven.

¹² ‘This land is cared for by the LORD your God. The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ ‘If you shall obey, therefore, My Commandments which I command you this day — that you love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul —

¹⁴ ‘I will also give rain to your land in due time — the first rain to the last — so that you may gather in your wheat and your wine and your oil.

¹⁵ ‘I will also send grass in your fields for your cattle, so that you may eat and have enough.’

¹⁶ “Beware, lest your heart deceives you, and lest you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,

¹⁷ “and the anger of the LORD is kindled against you, and He shuts up the heaven, so that there is no rain, and so that your land does not yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the good land which the LORD gives you.

¹⁸ ‘Therefore, you shall lay up these, My Words, in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, so that they may be as a frontlet between your eyes.

¹⁹ ‘And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

²⁰ ‘And you shall write them upon the posts of your house and upon your gates,

²¹ ‘so that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to give them, as long as the heavens are above the Earth.’

²² “For if you keep diligently all these Commandments which I command you to do — to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cling to Him —

²³ “Then will the LORD cast out all these nations before you. And you shall possess greater and mightier nations than you.

²⁴ “All the places upon which the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours. Your coast shall be from the wilderness and from Lebanon and from the river (the river Perath) to the furthest sea.

²⁵ “No man shall stand against you. The LORD your God shall cast the fear and dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as He has said to you.

²⁶ “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:

²⁷ “the blessing if you obey the Commandments of the LORD your God which I command you this day,

²⁸ “and the curse if you will not obey the Commandments of the LORD your God, but turn out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not known.

²⁹ “Therefore, when the LORD your God has brought you into the land where you go, to possess it, then you shall put the blessing upon Mount Gerizim and the curse upon Mount Ebal.

³⁰ “Are they not beyond Jordan, on that part where the Sun goes down in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain, over against Gilgal, beside the grove of Moreh?

³¹ “For you shall pass over Jordan, to go in to possess that land which the LORD your God gives you. And you shall possess it and dwell in it.

³² “Be careful, therefore, to do all the Commandments and the Laws which I set before you this day.”

12 “These are the Ordinances and the Laws which you shall observe and do in the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives you to possess, as long as you live upon the Earth.

² “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree.

³ “Also, you shall overthrow their altars and break down their pillars and burn their groves with fire. And you shall cut down the graven images of their gods and abolish their names out of that place.

⁴ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God.

⁵ “But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of your tribes, to put His Name there, to dwell there. And to there you shall come.

⁶ “And you shall bring your Burnt Offerings there, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offering of your hands, and your vows, and your Free Offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep.

⁷ “And there you shall eat before the LORD your God. And you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to—you and your households—because the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not repeat all these things that we do here this day, every man doing whatever seems good to him in his own eyes.

⁹ “For you have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁰ “But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God has given you to inherit, and He has given you rest from all your enemies all around, and you dwell in safety—

¹¹ “when there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause His name to dwell there—there shall you bring all that I command you: your Burnt Offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hands and all your special vows which you vow to the LORD.

¹² “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your servants and your maidens and the Levite who is within your gates (for he has no part or inheritance with you).

¹³ “Be careful that you do not offer your Burnt Offerings in every place that you see.

¹⁴ “But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your Burnt Offerings. And there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵ “Nevertheless, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates—whatever your heart desires—according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He had given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and of the deer.

¹⁶ “Only, you shall not eat the blood. Pour it upon the earth, as water.

¹⁷ “You may not eat the tithe of your corn within your gates, nor of your wine, nor of your oil, nor the firstborn of your cattle, nor of your sheep, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your Free Offerings, nor the offering of your hands.

¹⁸ “But you shall eat it before the LORD your God, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hand.

¹⁹ “Beware that you do not forsake the Levite, as long as you live upon the Earth.

²⁰ “When the LORD your God shall enlarge your border—as He has promised you—and you shall say, ‘I will eat flesh (because your heart longs to eat flesh), you may eat flesh, whatever your heart desires.

²¹ “If the place which the LORD your God has chosen to put His Name is far from you, then you shall kill from your bullocks and from your sheep which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you. And you shall eat within your gates, whatever your heart desires.

²² “But, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so shall you eat them. The unclean and the clean alike shall eat them.

²³ “Only, be sure that you do not eat the blood. For the blood is the life, and you may not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴ “You shall not eat it. Pour it upon the earth as water.

²⁵ “You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

²⁶ “But, you shall take up your holy things which you have, and your vows, and come to the place which the LORD shall choose.

²⁷ “And you shall make your Burnt Offerings of the flesh, and of the blood, upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And the blood of your offerings shall be poured upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And you shall eat the flesh.

²⁸ “Hear and obey all these words which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, forever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God

²⁹ “and when the LORD your God shall destroy the nations before you, wherever you go to possess them. And you shall possess them and dwell in their land.

³⁰ “Beware, lest you be ensnared after them — after they are destroyed before you — and lest you ask after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, so that I may do likewise?’

³¹ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God. For they have done to their gods all abomination which the LORD hates. They have burned both their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods.

³² “Whatever I command you, be careful to do it. You shall add nothing to it or take anything from it.”

13 “If there arises among you a prophet (or a dreamer of dreams) and he gives you a sign or wonder —

² “and the sign or the wonder which he has told you comes to be — saying, ‘Let us go after other gods which you have not known. And let us serve them’,

³ “you shall not listen to the words of the prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God tests you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴ “You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and shall keep His Commandments, and obey His Voice. And you shall serve Him and cling to Him.

⁵ “But that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, he shall be killed, because he has spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God (Who brought you out of the land of Egypt and delivered you out of the house of bondage) to thrust you out of the way in which the LORD your God Commanded you to walk. So shall you take the evil away forth from the midst of you.

⁶ “If your brother (the son of your mother) or your own son, or your daughter, or the wife in your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods (which you have not known, you nor your fathers)

⁷ “from the gods of the people who are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from the one end of the Earth to the other,

⁸ “you shall not yield to him or hear him. Nor shall your eye pity him or show mercy or keep him secret.

⁹ “But you shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and then the hands of the people.

¹⁰ “And you shall stone him with stones, so that he dies — because he has gone about to thrust you away from the LORD your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage —

¹¹ “and so that all Israel may hear and fear and do no more any such wickedness as this among you.

¹² “If you shall hear it said concerning any of your cities which the LORD your God has given you to dwell in,

¹³ ‘Wicked men have gone out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods, which you have not known’,

¹⁴ “Then you shall seek and search and inquire diligently. And if true, and the thing certain that such an abomination has been committed among you,

¹⁵ “you shall surely kill the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword — destroy it utterly and all that is in it, and its cattle — with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶ “And you shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its streets and burn the city and all its spoil with fire — every bit —to the LORD your God. And it shall be rubble forever. It shall not be built again.

¹⁷ “And nothing of the damned thing shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of His wrath and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you (as He has sworn to your fathers)

¹⁸ “when you shall obey the Voice of the LORD your God and keep all His Commandments which I command you this day, that you do that which is right in the Eyes of the LORD your God.”